Heart snub nothing to do with money: Neill

Socceroos captain Lucas Neill has apologised to the Melbourne Heart for confusion over his A-League signing, but says his move to Sydney FC had nothing to do with money.

There was never a case of leveraging one club against the other but when the opportunity became very real to join Sydney it was a difficult decision, but an easy one from a family point of view of being born in Sydney and raised in Sydney.

Lucas Neill

The Heart accused Neill of reneging on a promise to join the club after he announced he would join Sydney FC for the rest of the season.

Neill trained for the first time this morning with Sydney FC after joining on a short-term guest deal.

He says he joined the Sky Blues for football reasons alone, and could have made more money in Melbourne.

"I did give an indication that I would be excited by the opportunity of going to Melbourne," Neill said after his first Sydney FC training session.

"There was never a case of leveraging one club against the other but when the opportunity became very real to join Sydney it was a difficult decision, but an easy one from a family point of view of being born in Sydney and raised in Sydney.

"And it's exciting times here at Sydney FC to commit myself to this club.

"As far as being gazumped at the last minute, there was never a question of money.

"My intention with my ... representatives was always to come here for football reasons. We made that very clear that this wasn't financial.

"I think it's well-documented that Melbourne's offer was ($100,000) and I signed for ($70,000), so I think we leave it at that."

He says he is looking forward to making his Sydney debut against the Heart, where he is likely to receive a frosty reception from the Melbourne faithful.

"To the Melbourne Heart board and to John Aloisi ... I apologise if I gave too much of an indication that I was heading down to Melbourne," he said.

"I wish them all the best and in an ironic way look forward to playing against them.

"I've not come here to just make up the numbers. I want to push for Sydney to get into the play-offs, into the knock-out stages."

The Sky Blues' late bid for the veteran defender gazumped the Heart and means the Sydney-born Neill will join up with his old Socceroos coach Frank Farina.

The signing is a huge boost for Sydney FC, which lies on the cusp of the A-League's top six with seven matches remaining in the regular season.

"I'm a Sydney boy and I'm excited to be coming back to Australia to play club football in front of friends and family with Sydney FC," Neill said in a statement after the signing's announcement.

"I worked with Frank for many years in the Socceroos and I look back on those times with good memories, and it's great to have the chance to enjoy further success together at Sydney FC."